Holy cow

Sorry for the lack of indoor photos, but this trip was unexpected and a camera was not readily available. That being said- where did I go? The official Haribo shop of Bonn. For those who don't know, Haribo candies are primarily made in Bonn. Walking into the shop was like walking into Willy Wonka's Factory. The number of people in the store went from 20 to 100 in 10 minutes due to the after work crowd. There was candy of every sort, and chocolate- from Lindt, Ritter, and more! One section of the store was devoted to kid rides, the sort that you would find outside a grocery store. Another corner was devoted to Haribo memorabilia, such as puzzles, backpacks, tin containers etc. The center aisle had bins upon bins of varying candy that you can mix in a bag and is weighed by the kilogram, everyone was swarming this area. I would have gotten some candy from there, except, it's cold and flu season and some of the small kids were pulling out candy using their hands (eeeewwwww). Surrounding this aisle is the bags upon bags of the varying candy. My bounty was only 30 euro, but holy mackerel! The Haribo stuff will go to work and friends :) The chocolate, well, I managed to buy 34 bars of Ritter chocolate of varying sorts. We'll see how (or if) that gets divided up. Enjoy the photos!

Weekend fun

So, a much delayed and condensed version of my weekend:

Thursday night- I went to an Irish Pub called James Joyce with my Greek neighbor, Vasilis, and enjoyed a margarita pizza and a hefewiezen.

Friday night- drank the bitterest of beers with co-workers and now have a bunch of inside jokes about the name Aida and cruises. Many, many laughs were had.

Saturday night- potluck birthday party of a lab member upstairs. I had homemade tiramisu....yummy!!!

Sunday night- rock climbing. I managed to climb a 5-!!! Personal best so far.

Monday & Tuesday- recovery from the past few days.

Wednesday- Haribo!!!

Some new phrases

So, you will all be pleased to note that I've finally located and obtained table salt.... It only took me a month. The snow from last week has finally melted, we've warmed up and now there's rain. There's not too much to report today, but the next few days will be busy busy so I'll have more to say then. For the mean time, want to learn some new German words and phrases? My personal favorite is the last one.

-->

1. Bist du bereit? [bist doo buh-right] – Are you ready?

2. Du bist dran. [doo bist dran] – It’s your turn.

3. Hände weg! [hen-duh vague] Hands off! (very handy to know this one after everyone is drunk after a big soccer game)

4. Gute Besserung! [goo-tuh bess-a-rung] – Feel better soon!

5. Ich habe mich verlaufen. [ish hab-uh mish fair-louf-en] – I’m lost. (sadly, I must use this one A LOT.)

6. Können Sie mir bitte helfen?/Hilfe! Hilfe! [kun-nen zee mear bit-uh hell-fen/ hill-fuh] – Can you help me please?/Help! Help! (Sadly I forgot these ones when I got locked in a bathroom right at a restaurant after I arrive…don’t worry, I got out!)

7. Ich möchte gern Haare Schneiden und Colorieren. [ish mush-tuh gairn ha-ruh shneye-den oond coll-lore-rear-ren]- I’d like a hair cut and colour. (I actually walked into a salon with this written down on a piece of paper.)

8. Was bedeutet das? [vass buh-doit-tet dass] – What does that mean? (and believe me, you will use this one a lot!)

9. Das schafst du. [dass shaffst doo]- To pull something off/you pulled something off (very much slang)

10. Das klingt gut!/Das sieht gut aus! [dass clingt goot/dass zeet goot ouse] – That sounds good!/That looks good/nice!

11. Du siehst müde aus. [doo zeest moo-duh ouse] – You look tired. (probably best to use this one as carefully as you would in English.)

If you don’t learn number 13 you will have an album full of half face photos of yourself like this! (in Bergedorf)

12. Das ist der Hammer! [dass isst dare ham-muh] – That’s da bomb! (But the difference here is that people actually still say the equivalent of ‘da bomb’. If you are using that still back home you really must stop. Okay so I used it once recently but I was very, very tired.)

13. Können Sie bitte ein Foto von mir machen? [kun-nen zee bit-uh eyn fo-toe mak-en fawn meer] – Could you please take a photo of me (If you travel solo a lot like me this one really comes in handy!)

14. Das ist lieb von dir! (inf) [dass isst leebt fawn dear] – That is lovely of you (to do that)!

15. Das ist gut so. [dass isst goot zoh]- I like it.

16. Kurchen [curr chen] cake

17.         Es ist kalt [ es ist kalt] it’s cold

18.         Was ist los? (vas ist lows) what’s going on?

19.         Klettergurt (clee ter gurt) harness

20.         Seil (sail) rope

21.         Schuhe  (shooh) shoes

22.         Tschuss (tshooss) bye

23.         Bis spater (bis spa ter) see you later

24.         Bitte (bi tah) please

25.         Danke (danka) thanks

26.         Ruhe bitte! (rue bi tah) silence, please (stern way to say it)

27.         Eichhornchen (i-sh-hore-schen) squirrel

28.         Wie geht es dir? (vee gets es dear) how are you?

29.         Ich habe hunger (ich haber hoonger) I’m hungry

30.         Schones wochenende (schoones voken ende) have a nice weekend

31.         Gute besserung (guta besserung) get well soon

32.         Schokolade (schoocolada) chocolate

33.         Veruckt (veroockt) crazy

Please pass the salt

So, grocery shopping should be easy enough... looking at the labels/image on the package and making a decision on what to buy. Sometimes that's not so easy, or I'm a blind bat (usually the case), most of my mistakes seem to revolve around buying something with meat in it- not so good. So food mistakes thus far: scalloped potatoes- ended up having ham on top, individual mini-pizza's- I totally missed the pepperoni on top. Both times my co-workers benefitted. The other mistake I recently made was trying to buy general table salt. I know 'jodsalz' is salt, but I pulled a bottle off the shelf that was labeled Bärlauch a plant which is a mix between onions, scallions, garlic with salt added in. As far a mistakes go, this one is pretty yummy and will go well with many things, and if you ever see it in a store, I would seriously try it. The direct translation is Bears' Leek, which is usually a plant that grows in spring. So, at least when I see something similar on a menu, I'll know what they're talking about. Maybe next time though, I might find actual table salt?

Bonn central

3/2/13

So today felt like spring at 37F (well we've been 32F and below for a while now). The sun was finally shining through the clouds and that's the first I've seen it in over a week. Today was central Bonn adventure day, and a tutorial on how to use the bus system here. I wanted to look at phones and maybe get some other things while in town. First rule- ask those who live in your building about the bus system- I found out that if I used a bus stop 25 meters from another one, it was 1euro cheaper. Apparently they charge by zone or the number of stops it takes you to get to your stop. Its about 2.70 euro for me to go 5 stops (one way). I originally had a plan of attack on how I was going to go about this expedition, but unfortunately that went by the wayside. The second I stepped off the bus, I realized that even the best maps in the world were no match for Bonn's street organization. So I just wandered about eventually finding everything I was looking for and more. I also learned to look for the big church which is just barely taller than most buildings to get back to the central station. So I managed to find Bonn's visitors site, Beethoven's house (should I decide to explore there one day),  dmMarkt, other stores galore. Lunch was at a place called Tacos which promised good Mexican food. Insert expected disappointed music, I had a spinach enchilada- it was eh, it had the most spice I've tasted while here though. Food tends to be a lot more bland or has a more subtle flavor than in the US. I miss the strong flavors. One of my stops I found a post-office, I managed to meet an American family living here, who gave me a hint of how to get around. I was told to find the red mailbox at the university's main campus in Poppelsdorf, the mailbox is a book exchange, but behind it is an office for Loyola-Marymount's international students. Apparently they have a lot of brochures in English, and if I explain my circumstances, I might be able to get some. Exciting news to me!  My final take home after my adventure- gym clothes for rock climbing (yay!), nicknacks, postcards and stamps, a cute pair of shoes, a goody bag from L'Occitane en Provence, measuring spoons (ironically didn't have metric units on them), can opener and peeler. Of course my story isn't complete here. I had a brief bus mis-adventure, I got on the right route number, but in the wrong direction, luckily my mistake was caught early before the bus left the terminal and I was able to run to the next bus, better luck next time.

Across from Beethoven Houses' museum

One of the major church's in the town's market area